Trump in South Carolina
Trump in South CarolinaReuters

Presumptive Republican Party nominee for President Donald Trump was given a boost yesterday at the Republican National Convention when Patricia Smith - whose son, Sean, was slain by terrorists in the attack on the American diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya - blamed Democratic Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton for the attack.

"For all of this loss, for all of this grief, I blame Hillary Clinton," Smith said, referring to Hillary Clinton's failure to properly secure the Benghazi compound from attack.

"I blame Hillary Clinton personally for the death of my son. Personally. In an e-mail to her daughter shortly after the attack Hillary Clinton blamed it on terrorism, but when I met Clinton she lied to me and then called me a liar," she said.

"Since then," Smith continued, "I have repeatedly asked Hillary Clinton to tell me the real reason why my son is dead. I'm still waiting. Whenever I call the State Department, no one would speak to me because they say I am not a member of the 'immediate family'.

"Sean was my son. Hillary Clinton is a woman, a mother, a grandmother of two. I am a woman, a mother, and a grandmother of two. How could she do this to me? How could she do this to any American family?"

Former Mayor of New York, Rudy Giuliani, also spoke at the convention in support of Trump, defending law enforcement in the wake of attacks against police in Dallas and Baton Rouge.

"When they come to save your life, they don't ask if you are black or white. They just come to save you!" he said.

Giuliani is well known for winning election as Mayor of New York by running on a platform of law and order, thus overcoming anti-Republican sentiment in the crime-ridden city. His speech at the convention may signal that the Trump campaign will go in a similar direction.